This Truck Parts Expert Has a Different Story of Success

Meet Vickie, our parts expert. She’s the one who figures out what you need and makes it happen—even if it’s a bit unconventional. “I have written up orders for coffee pots before and delivered them myself!” She proclaims. Even when we don’t have the part, she is more than willing to help you find what you need. Watching her at her desk helping customer after customer, you would expect to hear that she was chosen for this job because she was one of the most knowledgeable parts experts around, and you’d be right! But it wasn’t always that way.

“I started out as a delivery driver for a different company, and then worked shipping and receiving. One day, a friend mentioned a trucking company was hiring for the parts counter, and said, ‘I could do that!’ and went to work.”

And here’s where her story deviates from the norm. Prior to even applying Vickie brought the International and Isuzu parts catalogues home in the evenings to study them. She learned each part, where to find it in the book, and where it fit on the vehicle. When she we ready, she applied and got the job working the parts counter. In an effort to learn more about the parts she was selling Vickie would go out to the repair shop and watch the technicians work, asking questions and figuring out how trucks are put together.

But she didn’t stop there. She attributes most of her success to her customers. Vickie’s customers became her mentors.“I had developed a relationship with the customers as a delivery driver, and those same people would call me up. Being veteran truckers, they would tell me what part they needed and what book to find it in.” She remembers one in particular who would call every morning and help her navigate the catalogue and help her get to know each part.

From there she kept going and eventually ended up where she is today, the expert behind the phone. Although many could have done her job well, the hard work and help she received more than qualified her to be the best for this position. And she pays it forward every time she gets a call for a part. “I do what I can to help my customers,” she says, “if we don’t have it, I find it for them or refer them to someone who can. You take care of your customers, and they’ll take care of you.”